“I do,” he preened, doing a little jig on his way back to the stoves. “I fed a horde of orcs,” he cackled, shaking his head. “And they loved my food. I can’t wait to tell the others.”
I didn’t know how to tell him that theorcsweren’t the ones doling out the compliments. In fact, I was fairly certain they could take down the same amount of food again and still not be satisfied. Deciding to leave him to his excitement, I moved to thebilling terminal, waiting patiently as it spat out the longest piece of paper I’d ever seen since starting working in food service.
Rolling it up a few times, I tucked it into a bill folder, not quite able to close it, heading over to the table, relief that they were about to leave making me bolder. I had a real smile across my face as I walked, and I saw Krusk perk up. Even that couldn’t ruin my mood now that they were leaving.
I didn’t have to put up boundaries to guard against this male who acted like the most attentive orc on the planet, when he’d been chatting up my friend a couple hours ago. I didn’t need that energy in my life and I was relieved to be rid of him.
Especially when he gives you tingles in places that you didn’t know existed before him.
Shushing the voice in my head, I stood next to the table, ready to hand over the bill folder. As I reached out to place it on the marble surface, I wasn’t ready for the huge green hand to take it from me, engulfing a few of my fingers—which were forever cold—into his heated ones.
The shiver moved lower then as I looked up into the eyes of the male I had just been admonishing myself for being attracted to. For a moment—that felt like an hour—he held my gaze, the corners of his lips turning up and flashing those dimples that were my kryptonite.
Damn him and his staggering good looks.
I dropped the bill folder into his hands, tucking my hand that was still tingling with shared heat behind my back. I took a swift step backward and those dimples dropped away along with his smile.
He lowered his gaze, a frown forming on his face instead. I much preferred that. A frowning orc was much better than a heartthrob with dimples.
He didn’t bother to open it, just slipping his card inside and handing it back to me, keeping his gaze on the folder instead.
“T-thank you,” I said, clearing my throat, and hurried my way back to the payment station, not caring that I was probably jiggling inallthe places as I went.
My heart was still hammering and I lifted the fingers that had touched his, wondering if I’d ever felt anything quite as right as his skin against mine. Squeezing my eyes shut, I gave myself a short, stern lecture about priorities, along with a swift shake of my head.
“You realize that you look insane right now, right?” Hans asked from next to me, crunching on a carrot and I startled, gasping. Mischief curled his grin even bigger and he leaned forward conspiratorially. “It was the orc, right? Did he ask you out?”
I rolled my eyes, clearing my throat. “Well I hope you’re ready to lose your pot because we’re about to close out the check and not a single proposition was made.”
For some reason, the relief that was spreading inside of me felt a little bit like disappointment.
CHAPTER 7
Krusk
My mate can barely stand being in the same room as me.
As I stared after her, a swirl of worry and self-doubt filling me to the brim, a low breath whispered in my ear.
“Do you want me to look into where she lives?” I started, hard, turning to glare at Savla who didn’t look concerned that he’d almost scared the piss out of me.
“What?” I asked, confused, pulling away in case he decided to breathe in my ear again.
“I can find out where she lives. Or anything else that you want to know about her. It’s best to get to know as much as you can about your mate before you begin pursuing them,” he told me in a matter-of-fact way. When I narrowed my eyes on him, wonderinghowhe would know that about mates, he shrugged. “I’ve heard.”
The words seemed a little higher pitch and for a long second, I narrowed my eyes on my brother, wondering if he’dfoundhismate. But that couldn’t be. He would have told me. Or he would have at least attempted to claim her already. When the words he’d said settled into my mind, my eyes widened.
“You can look into her?” I demanded, peering around to make sure that no one else was listening. They weren’t. The other two males were too distracted with their mates to notice anyone else—as I had been before Emma had disappeared from sight.
“Yes,” he said with a firm nod. “I can access her historical data from the computer,” he explained, and my lips parted in shock.
“Youknow how to use the magic box?” I hissed in a low whisper of awe. I’d been on this plane just as long as my brothers, and I knew Enka had become a bit more familiar with theirtechnologywhile I could barely use the phone we’d all been given without accidentally smashing it into bits.
But Savla hadn’t mentioned whether he’d made any progress on learning how to use the devices either. I still wasn’t clear how the magic box was able to do the things it could do. And while using the phone made life easier, outside of calls, messages, and pictures, I was completely lost with it.
If he could use it to help me, I’d be able to learn more about her without the rest of the clan poking their noses into my business and seeing my failed attempts at winning her. Based on her inability to evenlookat me, I wasn’t sure how many attempts I would need.
This plane was different from Hellplane. I couldn’t kill the largest peryton that I could find and bring it to her to show my status as a provider. I couldn’t battle hordes of warlocks for her here. I couldn’t doanyof the things I was used to.
